I’m up early to have breakfast- the buffet at the Radisson Blu Saga is quite extensive but, like a lot of places here, on the pricy side (by trip’s end we’ll realize it was among the cheapest options and easily the best value for food we’d seen) but it’s included for us as guests. I’m not generally a breakfast person but plenty of options are provided and I find something to satisfy. Read more of this post

We take a tour of Reykjavik but the overnight has taken its toll; I keep nodding off between stops to get out and see things.

4pm: sunset

Just as well; tonight will be a late one as the hunt for northern lights can run until midnight or 1am.

There are no guarantees. If we don’t see them tonight we’ll look again tomorrow, and if not we’ll try one last time the final night. Yesterday they were great, but past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Still, the conditions are really good: 5/9 on the probably scale and clear skies over the area. We’ll head out past KEF airport into the dark and take our chances.

We pull out in time, scanning the skies even in the city lights. Our bus waits for another. We pull into a city lot for them…

I don’t know how long we wait; I fall asleep. It’s still Day 1, an interminably long day but hopefully worth it. I wake when we move again, the other bus still not anywhere to be seen.

There was just a super moon, and the sky is bright even outside the city. That will diminish how clearly we can see them, though our cameras might get them anyway.

No guarantees that we’ll see anything. Even if we do they could last seconds minutes or hours.

Our bus unloads us and turns off the lights. We are waiting in the dark and cold – oh so cold, even bundled. I’ve got a small tripod for my iPhone and the northern lights photo app loaded. It’s cold in my hands, even thru gloves. We don’t know which way to look, other than up. The second bus pulls in, lights on, unloading.

I start to think, if it could only last seconds, I don’t want to miss it because this bus still had its lights on… and then I have the most wonderful sense of assurance.

We are not going to miss it. God is going to show us this amazing part of His design and He knows that people are still arriving. His timing will be perfect as always.

The bus lights finally go out. We’re all spread out. The guides know what they’re looking for but most of us don’t other than it won’t be as colorful to the eye as it is in pictures. Opposite the moon it seems the sky is doing something, maybe, but maybe it’s my imagination. I take a picture just because I am not sure. I won’t see what I got until later.

Definitely a hint of green there

To our eye against the moonlight and dark sky it looks gray more then green but pretty soon there is a line of it clear across the sky

It could fade away but no, it spreads and more lines join and it dances in the sky and I laugh and laugh because God is sweeter and more gracious to me than I can describe, nor certainly ever deserve. To see it- well even if none of the pics come out I am so grateful!

The pics came out, it seems.

We are out there for hours and when we return they are still appearing in the sky even as close as our hotel.

Yes, I went, but what did I think of it? It’s a jumble of impressions. Their ancient architecture is amazing; sidebar jokes about it’s because they had spaceships to aid the process. Read more of this post

The last image I have – the only image that remains – is having become aware of imminent danger in the split second before someone behind me pulls a plastic bag over my head and around my neck. Read more of this post

It’s my brother in law’s birthday. I think the world of my brother in law. He’s awesome. He’s smart and funny, and all indications from where I sit tell me he’s a good husband and father, and a man who loves the Lord and desires to live his faith and share it with those around him. And I am blessed to know him. I’m so glad God has made us a family, and I love him, and I hope he knows all that. (Well, now he does, anyway.) 😀 Read more of this post